i7-11700K running too hot

[Nope119]

Hi,

I just complete my PC build with an intel Core i7 11700K, paired with Asus Tuf Gaming Z590-Plus Wifi and a Noctua NH-D15S. I ran a couple benchmarks and observe the CPU temperature. The CPU idles at about 42C, and when running Cinebench R23 and Blender (latest version) with all 6 scenes, the CPU temperature is at around 85-86C, peaking to 90C a couple times. Stress testing with AVX in Intel XTU results in a 87C peak. During the entire time, there’s no throttling (CPU utilization is at 100%, 4.6 GHz). Temps drop down to 4x-50C as soon as the tests are over. The temps to me looks very high, even though I know my ambient temp is high also (around 30C, room no AC, my Asus Rog Strix 3070 idles at ~42C). The motherboard VRM stays cool during the tests, however, peaking at only 62C. At first I thought I had poor thermal paste application, so I unmount the cooler and reapply the paste, but the temps are the same. I wonder if the temps of my i7-11700K is too high? Should I be concern?

Thank you in advance.

 

Other Notes: power consumption during stress tests are around 196-200W. My case is CoolerMaster TD500 Mesh ARGB, 3 case fans, all intake. HWInfo says my SSD is at 33C under the “airflow” category.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Try undervolting the cpu, set a static volt like 1.25v vcore and see how high you can push the freq, should be around 4.8ghz so improved performance and hopefully lower thermals (considering most boards uneccesarily overvolt the cpu)

[BiotechBen]

11th gen Intel are flamethrowers. thermal limit on a lot of them is 105C, I would double check your IHS coverage, make sure you have complete coverage of the chip in thermal paste, and check your mount on the cooler.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Motherboard likely has overthrown the 125w Stock Boosting,..and your staying High boost  (250w settings) and High power over time instead of less boost over time after Turbo Expiration time, which is probably overidden by the board to look better vs competition.

 

Setting 125w PL1 will have it drop clocks under those AVX loads saving temps and voltage used.

 

Can apply to 11th gen.

[Nope119]

2 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

11th gen Intel are flamethrowers. thermal limit on a lot of them is 105C, I would double check your IHS coverage, make sure you have complete coverage of the chip in thermal paste, and check your mount on the cooler.

Thank you for your suggestion. As mentioned, I already unmount the cooler, reapply the paste, and carefully remount the cooler. Still, I don’t see any difference in temperature. I know this CPU is hot, but I’m still afraid the temperature I got is too high.

[Nope119]

1 hour ago, SkilledRebuilds said:

Motherboard likely has overthrown the 125w Stock Boosting,..and your staying High boost  (250w settings) and High power over time instead of less boost over time after Turbo Expiration time, which is probably overidden by the board to look better vs competition.

 

Setting 125w PL1 will have it drop clocks under those AVX loads saving temps and voltage used.

 

Can apply to 11th gen.

Thank you. I just open Intel XTU, and see that PL1 is set to Unlimited, PL2 is also unlimited, and PL1 time is 56 secs. 
If I set PL1 to 125W according to Intel’s TDP, will I see a performance loss?

[Nope119]

2 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Try undervolting the cpu, set a static volt like 1.25v vcore and see how high you can push the freq, should be around 4.8ghz so improved performance and hopefully lower thermals (considering most boards uneccesarily overvolt the cpu)

I’m new to this PC world, so I just want the same stock performance, but with lower thermal. Can I just undervolt the CPU alone using Intel XTU (Core Voltage Offset)? The Core Voltage Mode selection is greyed out so I cannot choose Static. And is XTU’s own stress test good enough to test the stability after undervolting? How long should I run the test to ensure system is stable?

 

I know that’s a lot to ask, but I would really appreciate your help :(.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

19 minutes ago, Nope119 said:

I’m new to this PC world, so I just want the same stock performance, but with lower thermal. Can I just undervolt the CPU alone using Intel XTU (Core Voltage Offset)? The Core Voltage Mode selection is greyed out so I cannot choose Static. And is XTU’s own stress test good enough to test the stability after undervolting? How long should I run the test to ensure system is stable?

 

I know that’s a lot to ask, but I would really appreciate your help :(.

Set a static multi like 48 and try changing the mode to static and running it at 1.25 or 1.3v

[SkilledRebuilds]

You can set it to 125w PL1 only, Game CPU usages do not push PWR like Cinebench and Multithreaded 100% CPU scenarios.

 

The boost in games will be relatively the same maybe minus 100Mhz (3-5%) or so when CPU usage rises in Heavy-Multithreaded titles pushing HighFrames.. but much lower temps and fan noise.

Beyond a few percent of your total lost.. its the solution to your issue.

 

The 125w profile....the 4.6Ghz Might drop a chunk in Cinebench repeated runs but not as much in Gaming scenarios.

[Nope119]

1 hour ago, SkilledRebuilds said:

You can set it to 125w PL1 only, Game CPU usages do not push PWR like Cinebench and Multithreaded 100% CPU scenarios.

 

The boost in games will be relatively the same maybe minus 100Mhz (3-5%) or so when CPU usage rises in Heavy-Multithreaded titles pushing HighFrames.. but much lower temps and fan noise.

Beyond a few percent of your total lost.. its the solution to your issue.

 

The 125w profile....the 4.6Ghz Might drop a chunk in Cinebench repeated runs but not as much in Gaming scenarios.

So I already change PL1 to 125W, PL2 still stays at 250W. What should the Tau value be? 
 

[SkilledRebuilds]

2 hours ago, Nope119 said:

So I already change PL1 to 125W, PL2 still stays at 250W. What should the Tau value be? 
 

56seconds is keeping to stock standards.
 

[Daethz]

I run a 5950x with PBO set to Auto with a noctua dh15, she never hits 90c, the highest i can get her is the low 80's.

 

Check if your fans are all in the correct direction, make sure you have atleast 1 fan on the noctua and one on the back exhausting.

 

Beyond that I do know the Noctua DH15S only comes with one fan, you could always purchase and install a second fan on to your DH15S.

 

But installing better fans to the front intake of your case is probably more likely to help.

Not all case fans are created equal, some people are like "I have awesome 140mm rgb fans!" meanwhile they cant push enough air to feel at all and are effectively just glow sticks.

 

Underclocking and undervolting your cpu is like placing a bandaid on a broken arm and calling it fixed, it should run at good temps at stock settings.

[Nope119]

9 hours ago, Daethz said:

I run a 5950x with PBO set to Auto with a noctua dh15, she never hits 90c, the highest i can get her is the low 80's.

 

Check if your fans are all in the correct direction, make sure you have atleast 1 fan on the noctua and one on the back exhausting.

 

Beyond that I do know the Noctua DH15S only comes with one fan, you could always purchase and install a second fan on to your DH15S.

 

But installing better fans to the front intake of your case is probably more likely to help.

Not all case fans are created equal, some people are like "I have awesome 140mm rgb fans!" meanwhile they cant push enough air to feel at all and are effectively just glow sticks.

 

Underclocking and undervolting your cpu is like placing a bandaid on a broken arm and calling it fixed, it should run at good temps at stock settings.

I double checked all the fan direction already. The case comes with 3 coolermaster sickleflow 120 as front intakes. I haven’t yet to see bad reviews on these fans so I guess they should be fine. I’m thinking of getting a Noctua fan for back exhaust since I dont have any exhaust fan. I doubt it will help a lot but i’ll just see how it goes.

[RMTM]

I have an Asus ROG Strix Z590 motherboard. And I experienced likely the same temperature readings you got after I finished building it and ran CinebenchR23. I am actually using a Noctua NH-U12A as my Intel 11700K cpu cooler. What I did was I disabled the ASUS MultiCore Enhancement option in the BIOS and used baseline limits of the processor. And it all worked just fine under normal 35-38degC on idle and up to 89degC overclocked running CinebenchR23.

 

My rule of thumb in assessing if my newly built system has bad cooling or not: In every suspected thermal issue, I always ran all installed fans at maximum full speed. And run a demanding benchmarking tool. All temperature should stay below normal operating temperatures of the PC components like CPU, GPU, motherboard chipset, VRAM, etc... Because sometimes, it is just on who you want your fans to behave when subjected to actual system heat load. So it might just be some PWM tweaking that you need to do that will save you time, money. Not to mention stress to the user.

 

In overclocking the 11700K, I suggest you do the AI Suite's AI Overclocking option first. It will automatically overclock the 11700k based from what cooling system performance you have. You might also want to consider using Noctua's NT-H2 thermal compound instead.

 

But overall, you do not need to worry about your processor from overheating. Intel Tjunction's limit is up to 100degC and it has its own thermal protection from getting thermally damaged. You may also "Enable" the ASUS MultiCore Enhancement for you to have a peace of mind for your cpu not to exceed 90degC. Even if you are playing with OC settings.

 

Lastly, you might want to add an additional fan (push/pull) to your NH-D15S.

 

If you plan to overvolt or push your cpu for more juice, you might want to consider changing your cpu cooling system to an AIO(liquid cooling) rather than our air-cooled system.

 

I hope this is not too late of an advice. Have fun computing/gaming!

[RMTM]

On 11/8/2021 at 2:21 PM, Nope119 said:

I double checked all the fan direction already. The case comes with 3 coolermaster sickleflow 120 as front intakes. I haven’t yet to see bad reviews on these fans so I guess they should be fine. I’m thinking of getting a Noctua fan for back exhaust since I dont have any exhaust fan. I doubt it will help a lot but i’ll just see how it goes.

Yes. You definitely need exhaust fans. Intake fans will create highly positive airflow that will then heat up and recirculate warm-to-hot air inside the cpu case. You need to have some good/high airflow exhaust chassis fans to pull the heat out from your pc case. Best to put both rear and top(if you have an option to install).

[new_concepts]

F.Y.I the correct answer was 125 watt TDP. I have an i711700k. Std it uses 280+ watts on my z590 ASUS Prime MB ( It runs a little warm ). Dropping the TDP down to 125, keeps the temps under 60 at full load ( occasional spike ). Idle is mid 20 deg. 360mm Rad with an Aliexpress CPU block. Fans idle under 70 deg. Need help with the bios, finding the TDP settings, just give us a yell. Have fun!

[WoodenMarker]

On 11/6/2021 at 9:24 PM, Nope119 said:

Thank you. I just open Intel XTU, and see that PL1 is set to Unlimited, PL2 is also unlimited, and PL1 time is 56 secs. 
If I set PL1 to 125W according to Intel’s TDP, will I see a performance loss?

Temps aren't low but they're safe. It's not abnormal considering the power limit.

Lowering the power limit may lose a bit of performance but can make a huge difference in temps.